As the popularity of mobile telephone service has grown, so has competition among mobile network operators to attract potential subscribers. Increasingly, mobile service providers are searching for newer and better services to offer their existing and potential customer base. One such service is the ability to use a mobile communications device to purchase consumer goods or services. While numerous systems and techniques have been proposed to facilitate sales transactions using a mobile communications device, these systems require the sending of one or more transaction identifiers to the mobile communications device during the course of a sales transaction. Consequently, the mobile communications device must be capable of receiving, visually displaying, and responding to such transaction identifiers. Establishing and maintaining such an interactive session with a mobile device user is complex from a technical standpoint and cumbersome from an end user standpoint. For example, many end users may not subscribe to text messaging or paging services and thus be unable to complete a transaction. Moreover, some subscribers that do subscribe to these advanced services may not know how to use these services.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved methods and systems for performing sales transactions using a mobile communications device that reduces the burden on the end user.